Transposing keyboard



Jan. y,.^4, 1930. H. KINNEY 1,743,457

TRANSPOS ING KEYBOARD Filed March 8, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet l Magd.

ATTORNEYS H. KIN N EY TRANSPOSING KEYBOARD Jan. 14, 1930.

Filed March 5. 1927 :s sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 14, 193.0.

Filed March 8, 1927 H. KINNEY 1,743,457

v TRANSPOS ING KEYBOARD 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 llliiiii INVENTOR 627109)/ /f/Mve'y MWh/55.

ATTORN EYS.

Patented Jan. 14, 1930 UNED STATES HENRY Kinney', on sacan-Munro, cnLrr'onNIA TRANSPOSING KEYBOARD Application filed March 8, 1927. Serial No. 173,706.

rlhis invention resides in a mechanical means for transposing music and deals particularly with pianos, organs, accordions and like instruments.

One object is to provide a means whereby the instrument may be made to produce music in any key regardless of the key in which the composition is written.

This may be accomplished in one of two ways. First, the tone producing portion of the instrument may be shifted laterally of the keyboard, or the keyboard itself may be shifted. The latter method is used for illustration and description in this case, since it lends itself more easily to manipulation in most instruments.

N ow suppose Aall compositions were written in the key of C. This, incidentally, would facilitate composition, but further it would aid the player, in that he would have no black` digitals Vto manipulate, excepting, of course, accidentale. And with my shifting keyboard lhe could play in any key, from the same composition, and still avoid the black digitals no matter how many tones up or down the scale he shifted the keyboard to accommodate the desired key. As a matter of fact, he could play in twelve keys from one composition and not use one black digital, except for accidentals. From the above it is `obvious that if all compositions were written in C and had no accidentale introduced, the black digitals could be discarded and removed entirely. This produces a new situation in music where the only use for black digitals is to introduce a foreign note or secondary tone instead of the primary tones of a different key. ltis also to be understood that any composition whatsoever, written in any key, may by -means of this shifting keyboard be lingered as written,'but played in any one of the twelve keys desired.

lOne advantage of this arrangement results in accommodating the piano or like instrument to the pitch of the voice or instrument that is to be accompanied. Instead of forcing the voice up or down to reach the key in which the piece is written, the keyboard is shifted up or down and the piece played as Music is not usually written in Gr-flat or B-natural because the key is too diiiicult, since it introduces a large number of black digitals, and yet there is no reason why it should not be used as much as C maj or or A minor. lVith my device, the composition could be written in C, and then the keyboard shifted to G-flat or B. The piece could be played as if in the key of C, although in reality the playing would be in Gr-at or B-natural with all the harmonies of these particular keys realized without any of their difficulties. lVith my shifting keyboard, the en-tire scale is available for such purposes.

The foregoing discussion deals with the theory of the transposing keyboard, while the aecon'ipanying drawings show .one embodimentl of my idea, with I'two modifications, For a more detailed description, I refer now to the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows -cross section of a modern piano keyboard, modified to allow keyboard to shift;

Figure 2 shows fragmentary front elevationfof same piano partly in section;

Figure 3 shows modified form of keyboard to accommodate a mode of fifty-three intervals;

Figure 4; shows diagrammatical view of a keyboard with key indicator;

Figure 5 shows same view in shifted position;

Figure 6 shows arrangement when applied to reed organ Figure 7 shows fragmentary plan view of accordion keyboard partly in section; and

Figure 8 shows a cross section of same.

In Figure l, the white digitals of an ordinary piano keyboard are generally designated by the numeral l, which digitals rest on felt strips 2 that are carried on a supporting beam 3. Small pins t, driven into the bea-,m 3, serve as guides to align the digitals and 'hold them in striking position under the upright rods 5, which rods are a part of the =tone-producing mechanism. A strip 6 runs along `the inner ends of the digitals and is equipped with pads 6 to deaden the noise, while the outer ends are suitably equipped to 4lit over guide pins 7 and strike against small pads 8 around the base of pins 7. The black digitals 9 have the same construction, but use guide pins 10 and striking pads 11. The above described mechanism provides the generally accepted standard keyboard construction.

Beneath the outer ends of the keys, and carrying pins 7 and 10, there is provided a strip 12. Near each end of said strip there is a pin 13 designed to fit into holes 14 provided in a lower strip portion 15, said strip portion 15 being attached by screws 16 to a stationary member 17. Said member 17 is provided with plurality of apertures 18 e designed to permit a sufiicient number of suitable rollers generally designated 19 to be inserted and attached to the lower member 20, as at 21. rlhe upper surfaces of these rollers bear against a strip 22, which strip parallels and is directly beneath the previously mentioned strip 3 to which it is attached by screws 23.

A sheet 24 of acceptable materiall is suitably attached to strips 3, 6 and 12. This sheet serves a twofold purpose; oneis to hold the keyboard isolated from the rest of the construction; the other is to give rigidity to the movable portion of the keyboard structure so that it may be shifted and not have a tendency to distort.

At each end of the keyboard there is provided a piece of suitable material designated 26 which carries the ends of strips 3, 6 and 12, also the end of the front board 27, which board is held rigid by the brackets 28 and 29. Handles 30 are mounted on said board 27 and are used to grasp the keyboard for shiftin lfhe front of the movable portion of the keyboard is equipped with a nomenclature plate 31. A similar plate 32 is attached to the fixed part of the keyboard structure. These plates, used in conjunction, provide the means for determining the key or keys in which the composition is to be played, and are used as follows:

Suppose the composition to be played was written in C major, and it was desired to play it in D major.

By referring to Figures 4 and 5, where a. diagrammatic arrangement is shown, it is clearly seen that the key of C major, Figure 4, becomes the key of D major, Figure 5, by shifting the keyboard laterally. lThe top lettered porti-on 35 represents the rods 5 of the other views, while the digitals remain the same. n

In Figure 2 the; keyboard is arranged so that the key of C is transposed to F; D to G; E to A; etc.`

Figure 3 represents a method whereby the ordinary octave is adapted to the mode of 53 intervals. The same plan of shifting would be used as in the other case.

Figure 6 shows a plan view of an arrangement of my invention applied to an organ. The keyboard is constructed to slide laterally. By grasping the handles and raising the keys until they clear the pins 41, theV board may then be moved to any lateral po- Y sition desired. A pin 42 is provided which extends into holes 43 to align the keys over the pins 41 in any position.

Figure 7 displays a fragmentary top plan view of an accordion with my shifting attachment, while Figure 8 shows a cross section of the instrument.

' ln this case the entire keyboard is mounted on a member 45 which member is provided with a screw threaded bolt 46 adapted to eX- tend through a slot 47 cut in the outer casing, and to receive a thumb nut 48.

End pieces 49 carry the pivot rod for the white digitals 50, and also the black digitals 51. Y

Since there is only a pressure contact between the toe 52 of the key and the end 53 of the valve generally designated 54, it is plainly evident that after loosening the thumb nut 48 the keyboard may be shifted laterally of the valves. Nomenclature plates 55 and 56 are provided to determine the keys desired.

Figure 3 shows diagrammatically how each octave may be divided into 53 equal tones and how'the twelve keys are connected to twelve of these tones, when playing in one key, and connected to another twelve when playing in another.

The foregoing description and specification pertain to only a few of a wide variety of applications which it is possible to make but impossible to show. Therefore I reserve the right to make all'modilications and refinemente that do not depart from the spirit of the description, nor the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A transposing keyboard comprising a string-supporting frame, means carried by said frame for vibrating said strings, a movable'keyboard carried by said frame and being adjustable with respect to said stringvibrating means, said keyboard being manually movable, means for securing said keyboard in adjusted position, a rail secured to the underside of said keyboard, anged rollers carried by said frame for supporting said rail, a second rail disposed near the front of said keyboard and being secured to said frame, the front of said keyboard resting upon said second named rail.

HENRY KINNEY. 

